Every good book needs a dedication. For me as an author it's one of my favorite parts of writing. After all the long hours writing, editing and formatting there's one last thing to do and that's writing the dedication. For the Nova Trilogy I decided a good while back that each book will be dedicated to authors who have greatly supported me in my writing and who have helped me progress in my work. I dedicated book 1, NovaForge, to Ivan Amberlake, who has become so essential in my editing process and who, more important than that, is such a fantastic friend. Book 2, NovaSiege, is dedicated to... drumroll please... author Cara Goldthorpe. We met years ago on the author website Authonomy, quickly realizing that the realms of our fantasy books had similar names and that we both greatly enjoyed each other's works. Cara co-founds Breakwater Harbor Books with me and I cannot think of a better author to dedicate NovaSiege to. I hope she and all my readers enjoy the book! The dedication to her and a link to the book on Amazon is below! Have a vivid and wonderful day!

---------------------------------This book is dedicated to Cara Goldthorpe, a fellow author who stood behind my work from early on and who has read, helped in editing and highly supported my books as they publish. She helped provide the confidence to delve into the published world and is a co-founder of Breakwater Harbor Books by my side. Goldthorpe is a brilliant author and I greatly look forward to her first published release!From Meridia and Meridisia to the beyond!---------------------------------

NovaSiege, book 2 in the NOVA Trilogy, has just released in paperback! Just off the presses! Get it while it's hot!

-------------------------------------

The dark priest, Samuel, is dead, but at what cost?

In a time of darkness the young boy, Bayne, has bonded with Samuel’s essence. The minds of all who connect with the essences are tested as an undefeatable evil reaches its tendrils through their minds. Beasts roam Solaris’ landscape, preying on its starving inhabitants.

Can the remainder of the Julieth’s league overcome the voices within them and the beasts plaguing the land, or will they be devoured in their struggle?

Is the boy Julieth once loved like a son forever lost?

As the temptation of godhood, power and hate tempts all people bonded with essences, who will overcome the control and who will embrace what is whispered to them as destiny?

The character Julieth in the NOVA Trilogy is an intense, headstrong female character with vast feathered wings and a leaning towards the bow and arrow. She’s tough, and yet in a world that has been decimated by years of a corrupt humanity, she is the character with the most heart. She understands the need for battle, and yet struggles in her mind against it.

The origin of the name Julieth has a long history for me. Each one of my books has a character in it that in some way came out of my poetry book, Dusk Crescence. In the NOVA Trilogy Julieth is that character. There was a character in Dusk Crescence named Julieth who was a winged woman. She had a different personality than this Julieth, but that is the name’s original usage in my books. When I created the name I was in High School, sitting in class looking at a friend of mine, Judy. I needed a name and I thought… Judith, Judie, Julie, Juliet. But Juliet is Shakespeare’s character’s name. Then I added an H. Julieth. So now you know where and how. Julieth is a key player in the NOVA Trilogy. Check out an excerpt below from NovaSiege involving her character. I take great pride in Julieth.NovaSiege releases Friday June 18th. NovaForge, book 1 in the trilogy, is currently FREE on Amazon in eBook and NovaSiege is available for eBook pre-order and also paperback. Have a wonderful day and thanks for reading!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The wind sawed over Solaris’s arid land, howling like a tortured, dying creature being torn apart in the night. Julieth, though warmed by the heat of a crackling fire nearby, was chilled to the spine by the sound.It had been months since she last saw Ivanus and the others leaving Gest’s gates, venturing into the thankless expanse. Rumors grew by displaced citizens searching out Gest that Samuel killed more and more, amassing his forces. Bayne, Ivanus, they must all be dead.How do we stand against such evil? She turned a twig with a leaf on it in her hand, watching the moonlight refracting off its veins. A tree with white blooms thrashed in the harsh wind close by. So much life blooms around usand yet we can do nothing to clog the sea of blood coursing across our world. I feel it bludgeoning Gest’s gates, reaching for me.As she closed her eyes a deep chill crept over her, a sharp cold starting with her palms bracing the ground, and then seeping up her body.The wind tonight… it has never been so cold.But it was not the wind. Thick frost marked the earth, spreading and climbing the rust-walls nearby and the trunks of trees, coming from below. It ascended her flesh, its sparking white form glistening in the moonlight. Cracks slowly formed in the ice sheen, and then the ground moaned as a section of earth a distance from Julieth cracked in on itself and then fell into a dark void.Julieth opened her eyes while hearing shouts of terror, stripping her of near sleep. Shadows thrashed through her sight. An entire shack dropped through the earth, disappearing from her view. “Mother!” a girl shrieked.Ice flecked from Julieth’s body as she moved. “What is happening? Ineal! Help!” she shouted, running towards the screams. A sudden thrust of wind punched her wings, beating her flat to the earth.She breathed erratically, her arms punching through frozen soil as if it were a shell. The arms of a beast ripped through the earth below her, clawing at her form as the earth’s shell cracked away and they both fell into a dark void.“Ragoor!” Julieth screamed, panic surging through her as pain burned in her skull. The beast which had pulled her down climbed her body, clawing at her flesh and weighing her down as she beat her wings, trying to fly out of the darkness. Its talons reached around her back, shredding a wing and sending blood spattering. They dropped quickly and Julieth punched the beast’s rocklike hide, and then kicked it hard, somehow managing to separate it from her. Its bloodshot eyes stared hauntingly at her as its form disappeared in the black. Other shouts of Gest’s people pierced the air around her.She struggled frantically, her one usable wing beating hard, spinning her madly until her legs punched against the rock below, dislocating joints as the rest of her body smacked the surface. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the most thrilling parts of writing a book, for me, is seeing what comes out of it. When you set out to write you always have the outline. You know basically where things will go, but what I love most are the characters that are created spur of the moment and then become huge to the story and plot.

Enter Ragoor, a where-beast that entered NovaForge initially out of need to build intrigue in an early chapter. At that point in time I did not intend for him to be a were-beast and certainly did not intend on him becoming one of the top character players in NovaSiege, but here he is in book 2 leading a horde of were-beasts at Julieth's side. They are beasts when they are in the shadow and then when sunlight touches them they morph back to human form. This type of character is the most fun to write, because everything he does initially is new and un-plotted. As an author, I initially know everything that will happen, and them my mind goes (Wow! What about this!) and I run with that curve ball until I get another.

I hope you enjoy Ragoor and all the were-beasts as much as I do. I'm looking forward to sharing NovaSiege with all my readers when it releases June 19th. The book's now available for eBook pre-order on Amazon! Below is a snippet with Ragoor. I hope you enjoy!

---------------

Beady, moist eyes watched the winged woman intently in the moonlight as she landed and came toward the were-beast. It had followed her and her company since leaving Kaskal, always at a distance, waiting for its time. Its tongue lapped its mouth, saliva dripping from its maw.She kicked up plumes of sand as she quickly approached. “You are the one who spoke to me when we fled the underground. Why are you here?”The beast sniffed the air, its ears perking in the wind. “I come for what was taken.” It neared her, its clawed hands flexing. “And if you will have me, I come to serve.”Julieth reached a hand toward its face, almost touching the fur of its cheek, and then suddenly stepped away. A shiver of fear crept through her… and yet somehow she trusted the thing. After we fought the beasts in the caverns beneath Olan he met me in human form. He did not attack me. Surely if his desire was to kill me he would have already attacked. She extended her wings in the wind, prepared to instantly flee. “What was ‘taken’? Why do you follow us?”“It is only the essence that I follow.”“The essence?” Julieth stepped back, her muscles tense.“Your companion is a thief.” The beast’s eyes watched her wildly, glimmering.

'Fusion: A collection of short stories from Breakwater Harbor Books' authors' is the WINNER of the Best Anthology category for the '2014 eFestival of Words Best of the Independent eBook Awards!'

This festival was put together by Bards and Sages Publishing, a Publisher of Speculative Fiction and Roleplaying Games since 2002, and nominations were voted on by the general public. The winners were announced during the actual festival which included virtual panel discussions, live author Q & As, seminars and workshops.

BHB's authors are honored to have won top honor in the Anthology category and are also honored to be considered beside the other high quality Anthologies involved! Check out Fusion below and go to Amazon to get your free copy today! Below is also the link to the eFestival website!

Featuring gripping Independent authors from around the world, FUSION is the first collection of short works published by Breakwater Harbor Books. Contributing heart-pumping tales of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Crime are seven stories that will thrill you, rivet you and some will even make you sleep with the light on. Authors from across a wide variety of genres, Dee Harrison, Ivan Amberlake, Claire C. Riley, Scott J. Toney, Mindy Haig, Cara Goldthorpe and C.M.T. Stibbe.

The Sliver of Abilon – A Mirrorsmith Tale – 'and you thought it was safe to look in the mirror?'

Diary of the Gone - Without a girlfriend, bullied by the Principal’s son, and haunted by the dead, Callum Blackwell thinks his life can’t get any worse. But he’s wrong.

Life Ever After. Nina's Story: Part one. – When the dead begin to rise, it's time to put your differences aside and run!

NovaFall – When the Meteor falls, the essences will come, forging flesh and planetary souls as one.

Cybilla. – To claim his Muse, one man must find the gate between the mortal and the immortal worlds.

Until The Ninth Hour – Until a man loses his daughter to a serial killer, until he loses his best friend, until he is down on his luck, Darryl Williams must put all thoughts of retaliation out of his mind.

An excerpt from Dee Harrison’s The Sliver of Abilon – A Mirrorsmith Tale

Junah Venmark, Master Mirrorsmith, exited the wayportal directly into the seaweed stench of Abilon. The foul odour tickled the back of his throat and he gagged on a rise of bile. Mirrorsmith Guild protocol demanded that he preview his destination before he arrived but it could not prepare him for an assault on his other senses. He vomited onto the trackway, just thankful that there was no-one to witness his most pitiful entrance ever. He loathed the smell of mouldy greens – it stirred up too many reminders of his wretched childhood in the back alleys of Varna, largest city on his homeworld of Vargo – but this was kabbige soup intensified tenfold.

When his heaving subsided, Junah sank down onto his rump, trying to ignore the early evening dew which was soaking into his leggings. He pulled a kerchief from his belt-purse, to wipe the spittle from his lips, and cursed this ill-favoured world. Sissik, his wail, chittered and scurried around him like a silver-furred cyclone, mewing her distress. Junah winced when she skipped onto his tender stomach, the better to peer into his face with her large, prosimian eyes. He ran a finger down her spine and she slowly relaxed beneath his touch.

Junah delved into his purse a further time and extracted a couple of lozenges from a packet. A few chews later and he could smell nothing.

“Next time I’ll take ‘em before I get here,” he promised out loud. “Not that there’ll be a next time!”

Junah clambered to his feet and peeled the sodden fabric from his buttocks. Sissik took her accustomed place on his shoulders, hiding beneath his long, dark hair and curled around his neck like a fur collar. Wails were native to all the worlds of the Regium, even the undeveloped ones like Abilon. Some wails, the silver-furred ones like Sissik, were prized for their ability to generate the acoustic frequencies that Mirrorsmiths depended upon. Others, the plumper, browner ones, made good eating. Whenever Sissik irritated him, which was often, Junah threatened to dye her coat russet. Now, however, she was quiescent, understanding that it was time for work.

The wayportal, part of the network of gates that connected all the worlds of the Regium, had opened between a pair of standing stones that dominated the headland to the north of Abilon.

'Fusion: A collection of short stories from Breakwater Harbor Books' authors' is a finalist in the Best Anthology category for the '2014 eFestival of Words Best of the Independent eBook Awards!'

This festival is put together by Bards and Sages Publishing, a Publisher of Speculative Fiction and Roleplaying Games since 2002, and nominations are currently being voted on by the general public. That means its time for YOU (Stop looking at other people around you), yes you to go and vote Fusion to the top of the pile! In August the winners will be announced during the actual festival which will include virtual panel discussions, live author Q & As, seminars and workshops.

BHB's authors (myself among them) are excited and honored to be finalists! In addition Claire C Riley is a finalist in the Best Novel category for Limerence and Ivan Amberlake is a finalist in the best Contemporary Fantasy/Urban Fantasy category! Check out Fusion below and go to Amazon to get your free copy today! Below is also the link to the eFestival website!

Featuring gripping Independent authors from around the world, FUSION is the first collection of short works published by Breakwater Harbor Books. Contributing heart-pumping tales of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Crime are seven stories that will thrill you, rivet you and some will even make you sleep with the light on. Authors from across a wide variety of genres, Dee Harrison, Ivan Amberlake, Claire C. Riley, Scott J. Toney, Mindy Haig, Cara Goldthorpe and C.M.T. Stibbe.

The Sliver of Abilon – A Mirrorsmith Tale – 'and you thought it was safe to look in the mirror?'

Diary of the Gone - Without a girlfriend, bullied by the Principal’s son, and haunted by the dead, Callum Blackwell thinks his life can’t get any worse. But he’s wrong.

Life Ever After. Nina's Story: Part one. – When the dead begin to rise, it's time to put your differences aside and run!

NovaFall – When the Meteor falls, the essences will come, forging flesh and planetary souls as one.

Cybilla. – To claim his Muse, one man must find the gate between the mortal and the immortal worlds.

Until The Ninth Hour – Until a man loses his daughter to a serial killer, until he loses his best friend, until he is down on his luck, Darryl Williams must put all thoughts of retaliation out of his mind.

An excerpt from Dee Harrison’s The Sliver of Abilon – A Mirrorsmith Tale

Junah Venmark, Master Mirrorsmith, exited the wayportal directly into the seaweed stench of Abilon. The foul odour tickled the back of his throat and he gagged on a rise of bile. Mirrorsmith Guild protocol demanded that he preview his destination before he arrived but it could not prepare him for an assault on his other senses. He vomited onto the trackway, just thankful that there was no-one to witness his most pitiful entrance ever. He loathed the smell of mouldy greens – it stirred up too many reminders of his wretched childhood in the back alleys of Varna, largest city on his homeworld of Vargo – but this was kabbige soup intensified tenfold.

When his heaving subsided, Junah sank down onto his rump, trying to ignore the early evening dew which was soaking into his leggings. He pulled a kerchief from his belt-purse, to wipe the spittle from his lips, and cursed this ill-favoured world. Sissik, his wail, chittered and scurried around him like a silver-furred cyclone, mewing her distress. Junah winced when she skipped onto his tender stomach, the better to peer into his face with her large, prosimian eyes. He ran a finger down her spine and she slowly relaxed beneath his touch.

Junah delved into his purse a further time and extracted a couple of lozenges from a packet. A few chews later and he could smell nothing.

“Next time I’ll take ‘em before I get here,” he promised out loud. “Not that there’ll be a next time!”

Junah clambered to his feet and peeled the sodden fabric from his buttocks. Sissik took her accustomed place on his shoulders, hiding beneath his long, dark hair and curled around his neck like a fur collar. Wails were native to all the worlds of the Regium, even the undeveloped ones like Abilon. Some wails, the silver-furred ones like Sissik, were prized for their ability to generate the acoustic frequencies that Mirrorsmiths depended upon. Others, the plumper, browner ones, made good eating. Whenever Sissik irritated him, which was often, Junah threatened to dye her coat russet. Now, however, she was quiescent, understanding that it was time for work.

The wayportal, part of the network of gates that connected all the worlds of the Regium, had opened between a pair of standing stones that dominated the headland to the north of Abilon.

Tome Tender, a blog website run by Amazon Top 500 Reviewer, Dii, is currently running a giveaway special of 2 FREE NovaForge paperbacks signed by me with a piece of hand drawn artwork next to the signature. Follow this link and add your name for a chance to win!http://tometender.blogspot.com/2014/06/scott-toneys-novaforge-book-blitz.html?zx=5023cc0ddae29799Solaris. A planet like any other, rife with wars, science and love. But at the peak of its civilization, a great meteor fell, bringing long-dead souls to Solaris, souls that had been sustained by the life-force of one lone man, Ineal. At the moment of impact, these souls scattered across Solaris, giving inhuman abilities to mortals while scarring their bodies and corrupting their lives. Samuel was one such man, a man of faith who thought to use his powers to worship his God: he watched his followers, and his planet, die. Seas turned to lava and the skies darkened. And as Samuel’s heart grew weary and angry, he used his powers to manipulate the world to serve him alone. Samuel became god of a planet whose only life was the symbiotic life so like his own. Centuries later, he discovered others, threats that had not been on this planet before. A winged woman; a cyborg; a future-seer and a child. A great vengeance burned a comradery between them. They were souls that could overthrow him. Souls that he would need to destroy.

An excerpt: Darkness consumed Ineal as the voices tore at his thoughts. The sole survivor of the planet Eon, he wanted to shut off his brain, to destroy his consciousness and be nothing. But the voices would not let him. The planets’ souls, he thought, encased in this meteor hurtling through space. The souls of dead planets destroyed us. I am the last. They take me for their own. He did not know when the essences of dead planets first came to Eon. Men and women bonded with them, inviting the haunting gaseous essences to their bodies and allowing the essences to become necessary symbiotes of the flesh. The symbiosis with the dead planetary souls gave his people powers and abilities beyond their dreams. But the price, the price of the flesh was great, and an ultimate death of sacrifice and pain was given in return. Ineal was the last, and the only being of Eon who had not accepted them into his flesh. But you took me, he thought as they spoke with their unintelligible voices, whispering in a constant echo through his mind. When my planet died you came to me. You took my body to keep yourselves alive. They kept him alive too, feeding him their energy as they fed off his living essence. Millennia of time passed as the meteor orbited the solar system. Ineal could take no more. Rock pressed against him, suffocating his thoughts. He closed his mind, pulling blackness from the void beyond and urging it to destroy him and the planetary souls, so that whatever planet they would go to next might be spared. His mind’s darkness came. He forgot speech. He forgot sight. He forgot love. But the essences would not release his life force and the greatness it became in their harnessing embrace. They would not allow him to forget primal sense. Then, in that rawness of life, where he was barely being at all, he sensed a planet. They had intended this new planet as their destination from the start. The essences’ telekinetic connection pulled away from him, severing the symbiosis and sending searing heat through his form. There was a moment of silence for Ineal, of freedom. Then came the violent crack of stone, as meteor met planet. A great boom consumed him. Ineal’s consciousness was lost… almost. But his essence lingered somehow in the planet’s form. The planetary essences fled their transport, consuming life and searching for prey.

"Another gem in the pile that defies genre! NovaForge by Scott J. Toney is an excellent science fiction read, but it’s also a wonderful fantasy, filled with imagination, creativity and adventure. Sometime in the future on Solaris, a planet far, far away a meteor crashes and scatters dead souls over the entire planet, enslaving people’s minds. Only one man can control these souls and there are four brave warriors who are out to stop him, each empowered by “essences” who give them each a distinct ability. Are these “essences” really friend or foe? How many planets have been destroyed when they accepted the dead souls into their bodies? Is the call of amazing power so great that people are willing to give up their own souls or will they find the price too high, after it’s too late? Is this invasion a matter destiny or can this destiny be changed?

Scott J. Toney builds an amazing world to journey through, teasing our own imaginations to grasp onto each word and to see what he sees, feel what his characters feel and become part of the action as its screams by at breakneck speeds one moment and slows enough to meet the characters on a more personal level. Is there a touch of romance, here, too? I believe so! The camaraderie that grows between our four heroes is earned and feels right as the weight of the future weighs heavily on their shoulders. Without wasting a word, Mr. Toney writes with a sense of timing and intrigue that will hold you prisoner until that last page. I guess that means we are on parole until the next book in this trilogy arrives!" - Dii, Amazon TOP 500 REVIEWER

'Fusion: A collection of short stories from Breakwater Harbor Books' authors' has been nominated in the Best Anthology category for the '2014 eFestival of Words Best of the Independent eBook Awards!'

This festival is put together by Bards and Sages Publishing, a Publisher of Speculative Fiction and Roleplaying Games since 2002, and nominations will be narrowed down to finalists and then voted on by the general public starting in July. In August the winners will be announced during the actual festival which will include virtual panel discussions, live author Q & As and even run a seminars and workshops.

I am excited and honored to have the nomination alongside my fellow BHB authors. In addition Claire C Riley has been nominated in the Best Romance and Best Novel categories and Ivan Amberlake has been nominated in best Contemporary Fantasy/Urban Fantasy! Check out Fusion below and go to Amazon to get your free copy today! Below is also the link to the eFestival website!

Featuring gripping Independent authors from around the world, FUSION is the first collection of short works published by Breakwater Harbor Books. Contributing heart-pumping tales of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Crime are seven stories that will thrill you, rivet you and some will even make you sleep with the light on. Authors from across a wide variety of genres, Dee Harrison, Ivan Amberlake, Claire C. Riley, Scott J. Toney, Mindy Haig, Cara Goldthorpe and C.M.T. Stibbe.

The Sliver of Abilon – A Mirrorsmith Tale – 'and you thought it was safe to look in the mirror?'

Diary of the Gone - Without a girlfriend, bullied by the Principal’s son, and haunted by the dead, Callum Blackwell thinks his life can’t get any worse. But he’s wrong.

Life Ever After. Nina's Story: Part one. – When the dead begin to rise, it's time to put your differences aside and run!

NovaFall – When the Meteor falls, the essences will come, forging flesh and planetary souls as one.

Cybilla. – To claim his Muse, one man must find the gate between the mortal and the immortal worlds.

Until The Ninth Hour – Until a man loses his daughter to a serial killer, until he loses his best friend, until he is down on his luck, Darryl Williams must put all thoughts of retaliation out of his mind.

An excerpt from Dee Harrison’s The Sliver of Abilon – A Mirrorsmith Tale

Junah Venmark, Master Mirrorsmith, exited the wayportal directly into the seaweed stench of Abilon. The foul odour tickled the back of his throat and he gagged on a rise of bile. Mirrorsmith Guild protocol demanded that he preview his destination before he arrived but it could not prepare him for an assault on his other senses. He vomited onto the trackway, just thankful that there was no-one to witness his most pitiful entrance ever. He loathed the smell of mouldy greens – it stirred up too many reminders of his wretched childhood in the back alleys of Varna, largest city on his homeworld of Vargo – but this was kabbige soup intensified tenfold.

When his heaving subsided, Junah sank down onto his rump, trying to ignore the early evening dew which was soaking into his leggings. He pulled a kerchief from his belt-purse, to wipe the spittle from his lips, and cursed this ill-favoured world. Sissik, his wail, chittered and scurried around him like a silver-furred cyclone, mewing her distress. Junah winced when she skipped onto his tender stomach, the better to peer into his face with her large, prosimian eyes. He ran a finger down her spine and she slowly relaxed beneath his touch.

Junah delved into his purse a further time and extracted a couple of lozenges from a packet. A few chews later and he could smell nothing.

“Next time I’ll take ‘em before I get here,” he promised out loud. “Not that there’ll be a next time!”

Junah clambered to his feet and peeled the sodden fabric from his buttocks. Sissik took her accustomed place on his shoulders, hiding beneath his long, dark hair and curled around his neck like a fur collar. Wails were native to all the worlds of the Regium, even the undeveloped ones like Abilon. Some wails, the silver-furred ones like Sissik, were prized for their ability to generate the acoustic frequencies that Mirrorsmiths depended upon. Others, the plumper, browner ones, made good eating. Whenever Sissik irritated him, which was often, Junah threatened to dye her coat russet. Now, however, she was quiescent, understanding that it was time for work.

The wayportal, part of the network of gates that connected all the worlds of the Regium, had opened between a pair of standing stones that dominated the headland to the north of Abilon.For your FREE copy please visit one of the links below!

Solaris. A planet like any other, rife with wars, science and love. But at the peak of its civilization, a great meteor fell, bringing long-dead souls to Solaris, souls that had been sustained by the life-force of one lone man, Ineal. At the moment of impact, these souls scattered across Solaris, giving inhuman abilities to mortals while scarring their bodies and corrupting their lives. Samuel was one such man, a man of faith who thought to use his powers to worship his God: he watched his followers, and his planet, die. Seas turned to lava and the skies darkened. And as Samuel’s heart grew weary and angry, he used his powers to manipulate the world to serve him alone. Samuel became god of a planet whose only life was the symbiotic life so like his own. Centuries later, he discovered others, threats that had not been on this planet before. A winged woman; a cyborg; a future-seer and a child. A great vengeance burned a comradery between them. They were souls that could overthrow him. Souls that he would need to destroy.

An excerpt: Darkness consumed Ineal as the voices tore at his thoughts. The sole survivor of the planet Eon, he wanted to shut off his brain, to destroy his consciousness and be nothing. But the voices would not let him. The planets’ souls, he thought, encased in this meteor hurtling through space. The souls of dead planets destroyed us. I am the last. They take me for their own. He did not know when the essences of dead planets first came to Eon. Men and women bonded with them, inviting the haunting gaseous essences to their bodies and allowing the essences to become necessary symbiotes of the flesh. The symbiosis with the dead planetary souls gave his people powers and abilities beyond their dreams. But the price, the price of the flesh was great, and an ultimate death of sacrifice and pain was given in return. Ineal was the last, and the only being of Eon who had not accepted them into his flesh. But you took me, he thought as they spoke with their unintelligible voices, whispering in a constant echo through his mind. When my planet died you came to me. You took my body to keep yourselves alive. They kept him alive too, feeding him their energy as they fed off his living essence. Millennia of time passed as the meteor orbited the solar system. Ineal could take no more. Rock pressed against him, suffocating his thoughts. He closed his mind, pulling blackness from the void beyond and urging it to destroy him and the planetary souls, so that whatever planet they would go to next might be spared. His mind’s darkness came. He forgot speech. He forgot sight. He forgot love. But the essences would not release his life force and the greatness it became in their harnessing embrace. They would not allow him to forget primal sense. Then, in that rawness of life, where he was barely being at all, he sensed a planet. They had intended this new planet as their destination from the start. The essences’ telekinetic connection pulled away from him, severing the symbiosis and sending searing heat through his form. There was a moment of silence for Ineal, of freedom. Then came the violent crack of stone, as meteor met planet. A great boom consumed him. Ineal’s consciousness was lost… almost. But his essence lingered somehow in the planet’s form. The planetary essences fled their transport, consuming life and searching for prey.

Now available in Ebook and Paperback! Support an Indy author and check it out today!